Rapper on the road to redemption

Pho Musician Madchild - Shane Bunting, who performs with hip hop band Swollen Members - loved the power and the rumble of this school bus yellow, 444-horsepower Mustang Boss 302.

PHOTO: Jason Payne, PNG, Special to The Sun

Pho Musician Madchild - Shane Bunting, who performs with hip hop band Swollen Members - loved the power and the rumble of this school bus yellow, 444-horsepower Mustang Boss 302.

PHOTO: Jason Payne, PNG

Behind the wheel of a Mustang Boss 302, Shane Bunting had a good time driving and recalling the whips from his past.

PHOTO: Jason Payne, PNG, Special to The Sun

Pho Musician Madchild - Shane Bunting, who performs with hip hop band Swollen Members - loved the power and the rumble of this school bus yellow, 444-horsepower Mustang Boss 302.

PHOTO: Jason Payne, PNG

Pho Musician Madchild - Shane Bunting, who performs with hip hop band Swollen Members - loved the power and the rumble of this school bus yellow, 444-horsepower Mustang Boss 302.

PHOTO: Jason Payne, PNG

Pho Musician Madchild - Shane Bunting, who performs with hip hop band Swollen Members - loved the power and the rumble of this school bus yellow, 444-horsepower Mustang Boss 302.

PHOTO: Jason Payne, PNG

Pho Musician Madchild - Shane Bunting, who performs with hip hop band Swollen Members - loved the power and the rumble of this school bus yellow, 444-horsepower Mustang Boss 302.

PHOTO: Jason Payne, PNG

Pho Musician Madchild - Shane Bunting, who performs with hip hop band Swollen Members - loved the power and the rumble of this school bus yellow, 444-horsepower Mustang Boss 302.

PHOTO: Jason Payne, PNG

444-horsepower Mustang Boss 302.

PHOTO: Jason Payne, PNG

444-horsepower Mustang Boss 302.

PHOTO: Jason Payne, PNG

Pho Musician Madchild - Shane Bunting, who performs with hip hop band Swollen Members - loved the power and the rumble of this school bus yellow, 444-horsepower Mustang Boss 302.

PHOTO: Jason Payne, PNG

Now drug free, Shane Bunting is back in the driver's seat - this time in a Mustang Boss 302

By Andrew McCredie, Vancouver Sun

Originally published: August 31, 2012

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In the worlds of music and motor cars, image is everything. For hip-hop star Madchild and pony car icon Ford Mustang, image has been both friend and foe.

The Mustang went from the heights of defining the muscle car era of the Sixties to the depths of the mid-Seventies when the second generation model was based on the Ford Pinto and had about as much sex appeal as, well, a Ford Pinto. That battered image improved a little over the course of the next two decades, but it wasn’t until 2005 and the fifth generation that the Mustang was finally back in the psyche and good graces of muscle-car aficionados.

For Madchild, real name Shane Bun-ting, a meteoric rise with Vancouver-based band Swollen Members that began in the mid-1990s and garnered platinum-selling success, an armload of Junos and a legion of fans came crashing down, thanks to a gangster image that blurred the lines between show business hype and reality. There was also the complete loss of his for-tune – "Three million bucks and nine properties" – and derailment of his career thanks to a crippling addiction to prescription drugs.

It remains to be seen if Bunting can repolish his image to the same buffed example that the 2013 Mustang is today.

All of which made pairing the two a no-brainer for a recent Big Wheels drive around Bunting’s hometown on a sunny summer afternoon. Just as Bunting is no vanilla white rap-per, the ‘Stang we’re rolling in is no vanilla white ride – it’s a school bus yellow Boss 302 with bad-ass styling matched only by a sidewalk-shaking rumble.

"This thing is awesome," Bun-ting says as he gets accustomed to the short-shift 6-speed, which takes a couple of blocks rolling through Gastown.

"You can tell I drive an automatic," he says with self-deprecating humour.

"I’d love to take it for a blast on the highway. It just feels powerful. Like a raw race car but all modern inside."

Admitting he doesn’t know a thing about fixing cars, it becomes clear he does have a lot of experience behind the wheel. And as you’d expect of a rap star, most of those whips were about as low key as the Boss 302.

"I’ve had some nice vehicles in my life," he admits as we rumble down Georgia towards Stanley Park. "I had the new Hummer when it came out, with one of the first pair of 26ers (rims) on it. I had a Cadillac Escalade when it first came out, with 24s on it."

He was photographed with that latter vehicle – and those insane rims – for a Time magazine story on the top 10 coolest jobs in Canada. Hip-hop star was one of them.

And he’s not unfamiliar with Ford’s pony car, either: "I had a ’67 Mustang. That was a real head-turner.

"Back in the day, when I made money and I thought I was a big shot, I had all kinds of cars. I remember once when I was coming in from L.A., I called up the Vancouver Hummer dealership and said ‘Get the new white Hummer ready for me.’ Probably paid the worst price for it, too.

"I was acting the rap star part." The 2013 Mustang Boss 302 also acts the part, though that’s as much about substance as style. The Boss package is all about performance, starting with its 444 horsepower V8 engine through to its race-inspired clutch and limited-slip differential outfitted with carbon fibre plates. Brembo brakes and a race-tuned suspension round off the performance package.

As to style, the Boss 302 borrows heavily from its 1970 namesake, from its hockey stick racing stripes to its school bus yellow colouring in honour of Parnelli Jones’ 1970 Trans-Am Championship car prepared by Bud Moore.

With the ongoing success of Swollen Members, a band with its own unique spin on hip hop, Bunting was legit when it came to the "acting" rap star part.

But that act slowed down six or so years ago, precipitating Bunting’s 2010 crash.

"In 2006, when the Swollen Members’ ride was sort of over, I said ‘you know what, I’ve worked hard, renovated this beautiful house in North Van, had like eight other properties that I was renting out, I was set for life.

"I’d worked hard for the last five or six years touring and recording, I’m going to take a year off and enjoy life.

"Bad idea for someone with a personality like me."

Proving the adage idle hands are the devil’s tools, Bunting’s move to Kelowna and subsequent association with Hells Angels members in that Interior town set in motion events that would damage his once stellar reputation.

"I was very wrapped up in the wrong social scene," he says of those days. "I was just hanging out with the wrong groups of guys. Simple as that. I was mesmerized by the crème de la crème of that sort of underworld. And I got a first-class ticket to the whole show, and I just delved right in. Mansion parties, strip clubs.

"I was a big shot because I was like some kind of trophy."

It was at one of those parties that someone gave Bunting his first Percocet to try.

"I popped it and was drinking beer and I never experienced something like that before. I was having the best night ever," he recalls. "It seemed innocent to me. ‘Oh, a painkiller like my parents have in their bathroom medicine chest.’ "

A year later, he was popping 20 Percocets a day.

"Then one day someone said, ‘You know, that stuff is just synthetic heroin.’ I was like ‘What!?’ I had no idea."

So he tried to get off them and had his first experience of being dope sick.

"Worse feeling you can ever imagine in your life," he says. "I made it through and said I’m never doing those pills again. Got on a plane for the Dominican Republic for a two-week vacation and that whole time I was miserable. I’m in the most beautiful place you can imagine, lush flowers, gorgeous beaches. I should have been having the time of my life, and all I could think about was getting back home and getting some more of those pills.

"The devil had got me."

He did indeed get back into pills, but this time OxyContin.

"I was a walking zombie. I was doing 20 OxyContin 80s a day by the end of my addiction. I was 55 pounds over-weight, my arm was numb. I’d look in the mirror and start crying at what I saw. At that point, I was a junkie."

It was only through his family’s intervention that Bunting got off the drugs, a hard road that started in a hospital emergency ward where his family feared he wouldn’t last the night.

He did and faced his demons. He’s now almost two years sober and well into remaking his image.

He no longer lives in Kelowna, he’s in a loft in Vancouver at 2nd and Main with his girlfriend and three dogs; he’s cut all associations with his former friends; and he’s just released his first solo album, titled, appropriately, Dope Sick. A major Canadian tour starts next week (see B.C. dates elsewhere on this page), and a new Swollen Members album will drop in November followed by a tour.

Just as the Mustang’s image survived the damage of those forgettable 1970s’ models, Bunting is committed to remaking his image, that of a hard-working, clean-living artist committed to his craft, his family, his friends and his fans. That latter group, he thinks, will be the hardest to win back.

"I was in a position of influence," he notes. "People looked to me for what was cool and what was not cool, and I definitely didn’t act appropriately.

"I thought I was living in this bad-ass lifestyle movie when it’s just a frickin’ joke. It’s really all a bunch of bullshit.

"I mean, I don’t want to be enemies with the police. Why the hell would I want to be enemies with the police? Like, what was I thinking -"

He’s also close to undoing a career-crippling aspect of his associations with the gangster life, and that is regaining access to the United States, something that was barred for him a half-decade or so ago due to his associations with the wrong people.

As our drive comes to an end, Bun-ting shuts the Mustang off and looks out through the windshield.

"My family used to be so proud of me, from coming from nothing to almost something. Then I sort of let everybody down and that was really heartbreaking to see."

"And they’re proud of me again. They don’t have to worry about me any more. We’re past the time that I might screw up again."

Madchild’s rides

First cars: (Cackles at the memory) “My first car was a yellow 1970-something Volkswagen Bug hardtop. I got it when I turned 16. We filled it probably with the world record for that car. Pretty safe cause you can’t go too crazy in it. Next car, my grandma, who is the nicest grandma in the world, got me a brand new Forest Green Volkswagen Jetta. It was so dope. I remember going on Robson with that car, the tunes and the sunroof. I was the coolest.” (laughs)

Current vehicles: “I bought myself a used Range Rover Sport with cash I saved up since I’ve been sober. And I just got a 1965 Vespa scooter built from scratch. All original parts. I love scooters and I haven’t had one for a long time. This one is pretty well the same one as the first one I had when I was 14.”

Next car: “One of the favourite cars I ever had was a BMW 6 Series convertible. Just the feel of going for long cruises, with the top down and the music blasting. Just a beautiful machine. When I get back I think I’m going to get another one of those.”

Dream vehicles: “I would like a new Ferrari or a new convertible Bentley. I go to the windows of those dealerships on Burrard and have a smoke and drink a coffee and just look at those cars. And if money were no issue, I would want a ‘67 Camaro SS, that Shelby in the movie Gone in 60 Seconds, and a Stingray Corvette. And, of course, a collection of scooters.”